'The Science of Superheroes' aims to separate film science fiction and facts

Thursday

May 1, 2014 at 12:01 AMMay 1, 2014 at 1:18 PM

Tonight, during the opening screenings of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man will surely plummet through the air and shoot webbing from his wrist that sticks to a building, allowing him to swing to safety. And, somewhere in a theater, a cynic might roll his eyes and say, "Sure, like that could really happen."

Terry Mikesell, The Columbus Dispatch

Tonight, during the opening screenings of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man will surely plummet through the air and shoot webbing from his wrist that sticks to a building, allowing him to swing to safety.

And, somewhere in a theater, a cynic might roll his eyes and say, “Sure, like that could really happen.”

The Gateway Film Center will separate fact from fiction with “The Science of Superheroes,” the first of a five-part discussion series beginning tonight after the 7 p.m. screening of the latest Spider-Man adventure.

The idea came from conversations among staff members at the Gateway, said Johnny DiLoretto, director of communications there.

“We noticed that a lot of us would get into these intense discussions,” he said. “There was a lot of fascination about science around here.”

A couple of “talk-back” sessions with scientists after screenings of the space movie Gravity and the TV series Cosmos increased interest.

“There was a lot of excitement about it,” DiLoretto said, “and about presenting science in an accessible way to adults who want to learn about it in a social setting.”

Debating Spidey’s superpowers will be folks with impressive credentials: Caroline Breitenberger, an associate professor of biochemistry at Ohio State University; Jamie and Teresa Colegrove, owners of Packrat Comics in Hilliard; Susan Fisher, professor emeritus of entomology at OSU; Kate Mollohan, a Ph.D.candidate and graduate research assistant at the OSU Center for Life Sciences Education and the School of Teaching and Learning; and Dr. Rob Pyatt, associate director of the cytogenetic and molecular-genetics labs at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

The lessons can clarify fiction. In the comics, for example, Spider-Man gained his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider.

Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.

“What radioactive energy will do, if you’re an adult,” Fisher said, “it will do one of two things: mess up the cells in your body and become cancer cells; or it damages your eggs or sperm, and your children will inherit whatever mutations take place.”

The panelists might spark an interesting debate.

For example, Pyatt, the molecular geneticist, praised Gravity, which won seven Academy Awards and has grossed almost $275 million.

“That is, for all intent and purpose, a hard-core science film,” he said. “Not all of the science is 100 percent accurate — you have to have some entertainment — but I don’t think you can point to a bigger success of a quality science film than that.”

But Dan Mushalko, host of Amazing Science Emporium on WCBE (90.5 FM) and a former physics student at Stockton College in New Jersey, said he “cringed watching Gravity.”

“The execution killed me, because they got so much of the physics wrong,” said Mushalko, who saw the movie with his wife, a chemist.

“When we left the movie, we both said it would have been an interesting movie if the science hadn’t pulled us out of it.”

Mushalko, who is also general manager and operations and program director for WCBE, won’t be present at tonight’s session but plans to attend the other four programs.

Programs such as “The Science of Superheroes” — and sci-fi movies in general — can increase science awareness in the United States, Mushalko said.

“The science illiteracy in the country has gotten so pervasive,” he said.

“To be blunt, as a country, we’re making stupid decisions. This is a great way to remind people that there is a difference between fact and fiction. When you’re making those big decisions, you have to look at fact.”

Pyatt wants audience members to understand that Hollywood and science can co-exist.

“I’d like people to take away a little understanding about how the science they’ve seen in the new Spider-Man sequel applies to the world around them,” Pyatt said. “It’s not a total fantasy.

“But wouldn’t it be great if we could all have web shooters and super strength?”

tmikesel@dispatch.com

@TerryMikesell

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